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Monday, November 14, 2011

Connecting on Find-A-Grave

The first came from an email I sent about attaching a memorial to the correct cemetery. While researching my husband's family in Pennsylvania I came across the orphan record.

Later in the day Chris emailed thanking me for the obituary and cemetery information. I then inquired about her relationship to the family. She replied back they were her husband's Colehouse ancestors. After some back and forth we realized there was a very distant relationship.

The next email exchange lead to discovering a treasure trove of family history.

For sometime I have researched the Ruth family Mennonite roots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

At several points you may have found me banging my head on the desk in sheer frustration.

The variation in name spellings itself has caused many a hair pulling incident. Then you add the seeming circles of relationships. Which Ruth married into the Cassel family? Am I researching the correct Detweiler line?

Recently I decided to take a break so not become completely burned-out by the twists and turns this family presented.

Then out of the blue came Susan's email message. She supplied Find-A-Grave links to the parents of Susannah Allebach Ruth! The correct Allebach family line!

Susan also has contracted the genealogy bug. She uploads photographs from various family cemeteries in Pennsylvania. Many of which are my husband's ancestors.

I emailed to thank Susan for the information and ask if she was related. She responded with details about her Allebach family line. Without a doubt she is a distant cousin of my husband! Currently I am in the process of determining the exact relationship.

Most importantly we are now traveling the correct Allebach road!

Moral of the story? Communicate! I could have ended my contact with a simple thank you. Reaching out to connect has reaped amazing benefits!

About Me

Hello to the world of blogging! I work for our local public library and several years ago we had a technology initiative. One of our assignments was to create a blog. So here I am learning about genealogy and blogging at the same time. The goal is to learn something every day, connect to people with similar interests, and have fun along the way!